Hickman County man sentenced for child porn blames 13-year-old for 'seducing' him

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Ayrika Whitney/USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee

A Hickman County man sentenced in federal court to prison on Wednesday admitted to raping and sharing explicit images of a juvenile, but blamed the 13-year-old for "seducing" him, authorities say.

James Earl Tuttle, 45, of Lyles, was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison for production of child pornography.

Tuttle was indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2016 and charged with two counts of production of pornography. In March 2017, he pleaded guilty to one count.

According to U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Tennessee, court records show that in April 2016, a 15-year-old girl told her mother that Tuttle had been raping her since she was 13.

The victim's family reported the series of rapes to the Fairview Police Department, which found that on at least two occasions in November 2015, Tuttle had recorded sexually explicit images of the juvenile.

"The investigation revealed that not only had Tuttle raped the child for several years, but he also tried to convince her to have sex with other men for money," prosecutors reported Wednesday in a news release.

While officers executed a search warrant in connection with the case in April 2016, they said Tuttle confessed to taking nude photos of the child and sharing them online. He later "admitted to raping the girl on multiple occasions, stating that he 'knew it was wrong,' but blamed the child for seducing him when she was 13 years old," according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

In addition to the Fairview Police Department, the Hickman County Sheriff's Office and FBI assisted in the investigation.

Reach Natalie Allison at nallison@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter at @natalie_allison.